Road maintenance activities are crucial for ensuring safe and efficient delivery of goods and people. Well-maintained roads not only extend their lifespan but also significantly reduce the risk of accidents and improve fuel efficiency. In recent years, with the development of vehicle automation, wireless communication, and robotic technologies, some road maintenance activities can be partially or fully replaced by machines, which bring significant benefits in improving road maintenance workers’ safety and productivity and alleviating the growing workforce shortage in state DOTs.

 The existing pooled fund project titled “Autonomous Maintenance Technology (AMT)” started in 2018 and the main focus so far has been the Autonomous Truck Mounted Attenuator (ATMA) technology. Current research in ATMA has led to broader interest in other AMTs such as autonomous cracking sealing, autonomous mowing, and autonomous snow plowing, among others. This motivates us to expand the scope of the current pooled fund project and develop a cooperative agreement to conduct further research on other available ATMs and their supported road maintenance activities. The Indiana DOT (INDOT) will serve as the lead state for the execution of the continuing pooled fund project. INDOT, through the Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP) at Purdue University, will handle all administrative duties associated with the project. Purdue University will also serve as the lead research institution for the project.

The overall objective of this study is to support and promote collaborative research efforts in the field of AMTs for road maintenance activities. Specific objectives include 1) Identify needed research priorities from participating state DOTs; 2) Provide a platform for technology, experience, and lessons learned exchange among participants; 3) Fund research related to AMT development, testing, evaluation, and deployment in various DOT maintenance activities; 4) Foster collaboration among state agencies, industry, and academia; and 5) Provide technical leadership in AMT to advance the state-of-the-art road maintenance practices. It is expected that this consortium will become a national leader in AMT-related research and applications.

The project will fund research and development efforts to achieve the program goals, with proposed initial research focusing on

· ·             AMT Deployment Requirements: Identify the purpose, features, functionalities, and underlying technologies of each AMT and Investigate how the AMT is intended to be used in what road maintenance activities, and corresponding external conditions (e.g., road, traffic, weather, etc.).

·  ·             Human-AMT teaming: explore how the AMT interacts with DOT workers to what extent in road maintenance activities.

·    ·             Machine-machine teaming: explore how multiple AMTs can be operated together in terms of interoperability, safety, reliability, scalability, and cybersecurity.

·   ·             Cost-benefit analysis: analyze potential benefits and costs and build business cases for each technology.

Note that the AMT here contains all technologies including the ATMA.

Besides research activities, this scope of work also includes

·      ·             Identify and solicit new research ideas and directions.

·       ·             Develop research problem statements for possible pooled fund projects to address research needs identified by member states.

·       ·             Maintain and keep developing the pooled fund website and listserv with current activities

·       ·             Develop a forum for member states to exchange information, post questions and answers on AMT-related problems

·       ·             Organize internal meetings (online every month, and in-person once a year) within the member states to discuss administrative issues, budget, technology transfer, and future research directions.

·       ·             Organize research webinars to disseminate project outcomes. Each funded project is required to deliver a research webinar after completion. The research webinar will be open to the public.

·       ·             Organize special workshops/sessions regarding AMTs at transportation conferences and venues such as the TRB annual meeting and ITS America.

·       ·             Prepare reports to member states and FHWA.

The lead State is proposing $25,000 per year for four years for each participating agency (a total of $100,000). This will allow one participant to attend the annual meetings. For each additional participant, an additional $4,000 is expected. Our goal for funding will be initially $450,000 annually from all members (i.e., 18 states).

 In each monthly internal meeting, the current budget status will be shared with all member states.

 Research problem statements will be solicited on an annual basis. In one of the monthly meetings, the submitted research problems will be discussed and the member states will vote for the proposals to be funded in the next year.

 This pooled fund is always accepting new member states. Please inquire with the lead agency contact Michael Lane (MLane1@indot.IN.gov) to join this effort.